discussing with Mitch about the best way to develop the map game, the jump off the map feature
posted a question to EDNA game maker forum about how to extract 3 unique numbers from an array - already have suggestions from peter and tony there - thanks
27th April (Bill)
current version of map game available for download, you will need game maker 6.1
new pages map game and name game created outlining design plans and techniques used so far
25th April (Bill)
Has the world become a better place. Very interesting flash animation which tracks child mortality over the past 40 years. Most countries have improved dramatically but not Africa
I have blogged about blogswana (Botswana, AIDS, Africa) here
I'm interested in this question - how do we approach Africa, HIV/AIDS, poverty, etc. etc. from a viewpoint that is not contaminated by "...sensational media and political agendas"? Check out the latest links with this in mind
I've been making good progress on programming an African geography game in Game Maker - I'll post an unfinished sample version for download soon
22nd April (Bill)
I refined the technique of cutting out countries from a map and wrote a GIMP tutorial about it. I can use this as a classroom exercise in general and it might be a good way to teach African students GIMP techniques.
Talked to Tony on the phone and he has figured out a Game Maker programming technique for getting the countries to snap to the desired position when you drag them close with the mouse.Thanks Tony!
21st April (Bill)
I've been working on cutting up a map of Africa into 54 pieces using GIMP tools, which I sort of know but not perfectly. Slow going ... it's going to be trickier for the small countries where the name doesn't fit on the country. I put one finished piece into Game Maker and used some code from Tony Forster to move it around with the mouse ... hope to become a bit more productive shortly!
The code is required to:
click and drag with the mouse (supplied by tony)
snap to position when close (needs to be developed)
Once these techniques are developed (GIMP cutting up and Game Maker drag and drop) I think they will have wide application for any game where things have to be built from their parts, it fits very well with the constructionist learning philosophy
20th April (Bill)
adding some tips and sites for obtaining creative commons images, sounds, music
wikispaces has removed google ads from this site, thanks Adam
19th April (Bill)
I like this game idea from tony, which enhance collaboration and ability to manage the project: a number of minigames could be connected through a 3D maze game or similar. Completing a minigame would unlock further levels of the maze or quest. All the ideas above could be incorporated in this way. This would give an opportunity for teachers and students to collaborate on a project and for inter-school collaboration. The project would become open ended.
I've written to help@wikispaces.com requesting that the ads be removed from this site, that is their policy for educational sites
There is a discussion about the home page, link at top
To follow recent changes visit Recent Changes link on side, if you make a change it's helpful to add your name / initials / date or alternatively leave a comment in Recent Changes, as tony has done
LATEST NEWS:
11 October (Bill): New version of map game, 7b. Mitch has finished name game.
3 October (Bill): I used this wiki as an example of "eat your own dog" in my presentation about teaching programming to the Cairns ACEC Conference.
22 August (Bill): I've added new items to links and existing games over the past few days
28 July (Bill): Programming of map game (version 6c) is nearly finished, just need to make new country templates to improve appearance
16 July (Bill): Map game now has a hardest and easiest game play (version 6b)
14 July (Bill): Added 10 new countries to the map game (version 6a)
2 July (Bill): Changed the logo and another minor upgrade to the map game
28 June (Bill): Minor update of map game, with some extra comments added to code
7 June (Mitch):
New version of map game available for download
31 May (Mitch):
New version of name game available for download
29 May (Bill)
16 May (Mitch):
New version of name game available for download.
13th May (Bill):
New versions of map game and name game available for download.
12th May (Bill):
6th May (Bill):
30th April (Bill)
27th April (Bill)
25th April (Bill)
22nd April (Bill)
I refined the technique of cutting out countries from a map and wrote a GIMP tutorial about it. I can use this as a classroom exercise in general and it might be a good way to teach African students GIMP techniques.
Talked to Tony on the phone and he has figured out a Game Maker programming technique for getting the countries to snap to the desired position when you drag them close with the mouse.Thanks Tony!
21st April (Bill)
I've been working on cutting up a map of Africa into 54 pieces using GIMP tools, which I sort of know but not perfectly. Slow going ... it's going to be trickier for the small countries where the name doesn't fit on the country. I put one finished piece into Game Maker and used some code from Tony Forster to move it around with the mouse ... hope to become a bit more productive shortly!
The code is required to:
Once these techniques are developed (GIMP cutting up and Game Maker drag and drop) I think they will have wide application for any game where things have to be built from their parts, it fits very well with the constructionist learning philosophy
20th April (Bill)
19th April (Bill)
18th April (Bill):